It is estimated that 93% of people who live in fast-growth emerging markets around the world do not have a credit card (Source: Measuring Financial Inclusion, The Global Findex Database), making it difficult or impossible to purchase apps from most global app stores.
Today we announced that Windows Store has become the first global smartphone platform to enable carrier billing for app purchases in China, India and Brazil. This, along with Verizon’s recently enabled carrier billing for Windows Phone in the US, represents a huge opportunity for developers. China Mobile alone is estimated to serve nearly 800 million customers, millions of whom are Windows Phone users.
With these announcements, we’ve now established connections with 81 carriers in 46 markets around the world, bringing a combined subscriber base of 2.6 billion users, which is 46% of all subscribers worldwide (Source: Ovum World Cellular Information Service), more than any other major smartphone platform supports today.
Please take a look at today’s blog on the Microsoft Firehose to learn more about how we’re investing in all three phases of app commerce to keep customers coming back to our Store, creating more opportunity for increased downloads and paid transactions. There has never been a better time to build apps for Windows and Windows Phone – get started.
